The Hunters
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: The death of the Land of Fire's Grand Coven has sent the world into a tailspin of witches turning into monsters and threatening the fragile stability of the villages. The Uchiha and Senju clans are the most prominent witch hunters and were ordered by the imperials to destroy the witches. A pink haired girl becomes key in destroying the witches, and learning what turned them.
1. Meeting

**Author's Note: I know, I suck. Another story! I'm sorry! I'm open to pairings. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

 **Warnings: Language and OOCness.**

 **Word Count: 4,356**

It was early evening and yet the open field was lit up with torches in preparation for the impending darkness of night to befall them. There was a fire pit in the center of the torches, the grass around it pulled up leaving a patch of dirt, charred from multiple fires set in that one spot. There is a crowd of people gathered, just outside the circle of torches, all yelling and screaming. There had to be almost a hundred of them, it was impossible to hear what any one person was saying over the din.

Off to one side was a large cart, bigger than most with two strong oxen to pull it. They stood around, grazing on the grass around them, no longer minding the noise.

Inside their cart was about ten girls, ranging in ages from fifteen to twenty-five. Almost all of them were huddled together, weeping pitifully or begging to be released. All were dirty from being dragged through the mud and their hair was in complete disarray. Most of these girls, all middle to low class, were dirty with ripped clothes and marks on their arms and legs from where they were grabbed and thrown into this make-shift prison.

Only one girl, seventeen in age, doesn't cry or beg. Her pale, but dirty hands are curled around the bars keeping them in the carriage, staring at the man in charge of this murder-spree. Her hair, long and beautiful at one time, is dark and caked with dried mud, along with her forehead and much of her right cheek. Her kimono is ripped in multiple places and dirty. She stands out amongst all the others with the hard face and the blazing emerald colored eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the priest from the nearby village that the prisoner girl can only assume the majority of the spectators and fellow prisoners are from, says, sweeping his arms out wide. "These girls here have been accused of the accursed witchcraft! As you all know, witches are not welcome in our town, in order to cleanse their dirty souls, we must burn them!"

The spectators cry out in agreement, making the girls around the emerald eyed prisoner start crying and begging harder. Tears streaking through their dirty faces, leaving clean lines in their wake.

"Every since the Grand Fire Coven was destroyed and the witches went mad, they have shown their true colors," the priest continues, dark eyes scanning the crowd for any disapproving eyes. He found none. A small smile begins to curve over his lips. No one disapproved, not even the Hunter in the crowd, who was watching from beneath their signature black cloak with red and green flames dancing against the bottom. "We must kill the witches now, while they are new to the land, before they can gain their powers!"

More cheering.

"You're an idiot!" The green eyed prisoner shouts, silencing the crowd and drawing the attention of the priest.

His lip curls in disgust. "Very well, witch, how about you first? How are you going to prove to us that you are not one of those bloody monsters?"

"I can't," she says. The people gasp and start yelling out to kill her when she continues, ignoring them, "This entire system is designed that there is no way of proving innocence. How do I prove that I don't have something no one can see? In order for one to know for certain that someone is a witch is if they themselves are a witch as well." The girl narrows her eyes. "How are we to know for certain you are not a witch in hidden beneath your holy cloak?"

The priest blubbers. The crowd looks around at each other, not knowing what to say to that. "That's preposterous!" The priest yells. "I am a man of Kami! I wear artifacts purified in holy waters! _That_ is my proof! Witches cannot touch such things! They are manifestations of evil and would burst in flames!" People begin to murmur their agreements butt he girl rolls her eyes.

"Idiot. If you knew anything about witches, you would know that isn't true. The Grand Fire Witch was said to hold the symbol of Kami around her neck, given to her by the Daimyo as a sign of good faith and alliance with the witches," she says. "You don't know anything. Witches now are hideous creatures unable to maintain a human like appearance because of their curse. No one here could be a Fire witch, and if any of us were a witch from _anywhere else in the world_ we sure as hell would let you burn us alive. You're killing a bunch of innocent people."

"They are not innocent!" The Priest insists.

"I'll give you a three pronged lesson on Witches 101," she says condescendingly. "Firstly, there is no witch alive that can resurrect herself from the dead, okay? I don't care how powerful you are, it's impossible. You hear about witches living for a long time, but that's it. Immortality is impossible. That's common sense. And secondly, the Grand Fire Coven has been reduced to mindless killing machines and if put into this situation, she would kill all of these girls, then kill all of you without forcing what little rationality must be left within her to listen to your incessant jibberish. She doesn't think or act human anymore. She's gone.

"And thirdly," the green eyed girl says, dragging out her words, still glaring at the priest, "if there was a witch around here, she wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught by a moron like you, but besides that, if she was a bad witch, she'd be practicing blood magic. And you know what the prime source of power for blood magic is, you stupid peace of shit? Virgin or unrighteous murdered sacrifices."

There is a painful silence that follows. No one knowing what to say. The crowd is inching back, staring at the pyre like a witch is about to jump out of it and kill them all.

"And you just gave them a spot to pull dead, vengeful souls," the girl says, rolling her eyes. "Way to go. I'm pretty certain you don't have a witch infestation here, but with all of this death, you are practically yelling: Hey, over here! Come get us! But go ahead," she says drolly. "Kill me now so I don't have to hear about a real witch coming here and slaughtering you all."

That was all they needed, the people began to turn tail and run away like the witch was already there.

"Wait, no!" The priest calls after them. "No one listen to her! She's a witch, trying to fill your head with lies!"

"I think I've seen enough, Goronin," the Hunter, who remained perfectly still while the people around him ran, says, walking closer. "What the girl says is true. None of these girls are witches. Release them."

"No, my lord, listen," Goronin begs, stepping back from the tall Hunter. "She makes some valid points, sure, but they are witches, I guarantee!"

The Hunter shifts a bit and then his cloak parts and a sword appears, glowing an electrified yellow, crackling like literal lightning. The tip remains pointed to the dirt but the threat is heard loud and clear. No doubt it was crafted by witches. Goronin holds up his hands in surrender.

"Release the girls. Now," the Hunter growls. "The last thing we'd want is to attract witches here to the death and misfortune. While my duty is to kill witches, I have no qualms with killing stupid humans."

"Alright, alright," Goronin says quickly, digging around in his pockets for the keys. He holds them up, as if to show that he's being good and walks over to the door and unlocks it, opening it and stepping back a good few feet. The girls were hesitant at first to get out, but when they realized that they weren't going to be attacked, they ran for it, crying out their thanks to the Hunter before disappearing into the darkness. The green eyed girl, although close to the door, was the last to climb out.

She looks down at her dirty and ripped clothes with disgust, tsking loudly before glaring at the priest. "Think before you act, stupid. All those girls you've killed is on you. Good luck getting to Kami's side after that." The priest starts to sputter something that she didn't care to hear. She was almost burned alive today and almost watched nine others suffer that fate, she could get far enough away from this place fast enough.

She made some kind of ambiguous rejection noise and walked away. Just when she thought that she would finally be left alone, she could hear footsteps following behind her. They were quiet, definitely trained, but her ears were keen enough to hear them.

The green eyed girl turns swiftly to glare at the Hunter. He stops when she turned to him, face still obscured in the darkness of his hood. His sword is gone, hidden beneath the cloak. "Stop following me."

She turns back around and keep walking but after a few minutes of trudging unhappily through the forest, having to lift the tattered ends of her filthy kimono, she hears the footsteps again. This time she tries to ignore it, but she can't. She keep listening to the soft patter behind her. It was grating at her nerves and she wanted nothing more than for the Hunter to leave her alone.

Just before they reached the lake that she was originally at before she was taken captive, she just about lost her mind. There was nine other girls that went running into the forest, why in the world was he following her? A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if he was hunting her?

Just as the thought crossed her mind - and she really had to hit herself for having not thought such a simple thing right away - she broke into the clearing in front of the lake and stopped dead in her tracks. Three other Hunters stood around, talking. They all turned to her as soon as she appeared, all of their faces were hidden by the shadow of the hood. It's getting dark out now and their dark cloaks are getting harder to see in the fading light.

She turns to the Hunter that stalked her all the way here. "What is this? What do you want?"

"Are you the pink haired witch hunter?" one of the other Hunters behind her asks. She turns to him, thinking he'll be the one to give her answers.

"What?"

"We've been tracking you for almost two months now," the one to the furthest left says, the shortest of the three, probably all three. The one right next to him, in the middle of the trio, was only a bit taller than him. "You've alluded our trackers for so long we had to come after you ourselves."

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Okay... well, you found me. What the hell do you four want?" Her heart is beating heavily in her ears. Are they going to kill her? Are they part of some group of elite Hunters?

"Forgive us," the tallest says. He brings his hands up and pulls down his hood, reveal a handsome young man in his early to mid twenties with long brown hair still trapped in the cloak but two long pieces of hair frame his face and stop at his chin. His skin is tanned, naturally, from spending long days in the sunlight and his eyes are a large, doe brown. There is something about him, the girl couldn't seem to place. Something about him that drew her to him. She couldn't really tell what it was exactly.

She didn't recognize him, but the two next to him, when they pulled down their hoods, she recognized the unmistakable family trait of black hair and eyes. The two were Uchiha.

The taller of the two had long black hair, wild and untamed framing his face, obscuring most of it and half hanging out of his cloak. Sakura is surprised he was able to pull the hood over that mane. His skin was pale and his eyes were pitch black. As dark as the starless night. There were strange lines under his eyes from either lack of sleep or heavy stress. Something that the brown haired man lacked. He looked slightly younger than the first man.

The shortest of the three was no doubt closely related. His hair framed his face, similar to the other man. His skin was a little bit tanner, only slightly though, but that could just be the waning light, and his eyes were just as dark. He too had lines under his eyes from similar conditions as the other man. He looked to be either be a late teen - but older than her - or early twenties.

The girl turns to look at the final man, who had been stalking her since her release.

He was by far the most exotic of all of them. His hair was like a shock of moonlight. It was so pale that it was gray in the fading light and while he looked to be older than her, it was hard to tell how much older. His eyes were the color of magma and burned just as hot with intensity. His skin was pale, partially translucent with how pale. She was close enough to see the light blue of his veins in his cheeks.

She s toward the oldest man again, dirty eyebrows raised high. "What do you want from me?"

The tallest man smiles apologetically. "Forgive us. We've been on the road for a long time without pause trying to catch up with you."

"Uh huh. And what do you want from me?"

"Are you the pink haired witch hunter?" the middle man asks again, voice flat.

She tilts her head to the side. "Does it look like I got pink hair?"

He doesn't appear to be amused by her. "You're a little too dirty for me to tell," he says. It was both honest and cutting. The dirty girl wasn't sure if he was referring to her person being dirty or her person being _dirty._ Either way, she didn't like his attitude or -if he was referring to the later of the two - his assumptions about her personal upkeep.

"Madara!" The oldest says sharply, glaring down at the man in the middle. "We came here seeking her help, not to criticize. Be nice or be quiet."

"Yes, brother," the other boy says, grinning coyly. "Shut up."

The other man, Madara, glares down at what the emerald eyed girl assumes to be his brother. "Izuna," he says warningly.

"Well," the tall man says, putting his hands to his chest. "I'm Hashirama Senju, the man behind you is my little brother, Tobirama. The man next to me," he gestures with a sweep of his hand, "is Madara Uchiha and his little brother Izuna."

"Nice to meet you," the girl says, hands resting on her hips. "What do you want from me?"

The tallest man, Hashirama, blinks a few times in surprise at her brushing them off. He didn't seem insulted, just curious. He must be under the impression that she didn't know who they were. But in fact, it was quite the opposite. She knew about them through rumors and what she hears on the road. Madara was the leader of the Uchiha clan and Hashirama was the leader of the Senju clan. They were famous Witch Hunters, along with their little brothers and the rest of their clans. The girl heard that they were the most powerful two clans, gifted many things by witches in the Grand Fire Coven before... it stopped being.

They used to be in a war, the two clans, until just before the fall of the Gran Fire Coven and united to kill the witches that were once their friends. She didn't blame them, she doubts the witches make good company anymore.

But she digresses, she knew of them. They are a legendary four man squad, said to be able to take down any witch when they work together. Which, to be honest, just means they haven't come across a witch strong enough to kill them. Every Hunter lives like that, until they get killed.

"Excuse me," Hashirama says, bringing a hand to his mouth to hide his surprise before he schools his features. Once he's done that, he continues, "In our travels we heard about a pink haired witch hunter that was very knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of witches. That she had been spreading that advice to villages plagued by witches to help them survive and then going off to kill the witches herself. Is that you?"

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Why? Do you want to fight about it?"

"What? No!" Hashirama puts his hands up, palms facing her. "I, uh..."

"I'm kidding," the girl says. "You want to know if I'm trying to encroach on your territory? Well, sorry, I've got a mission and I'm not going to stop because of hot-heads just haven't met a witch too powerful for them." She shrugs and walks past them to the lake, walking in. Her kimono is immediately weighing her down. She gets about mid-thigh deep before she washes her hands and face.

"No, ma'am, it's not like that..." Hashirama says behind her. "We just wanted to see if you would be willing to share some of your insight. You appear to know a lot from what we hear..."

"It's true," a new voice says. The girl glances over her shoulder to see it's her stalker who spoke. "She was very knowledgeable about the ways of the witches. She spoke a lot of logic."

"I wouldn't say that," the girl snorts, turning back away, resuming cleaning herself. "Most of what I said was common sense, if you think about it." She scoffs, there is no way she's going to be able to restore this kimono back to the way she originally had it before she was viciously man handled and put on the chopping block. She shakes her head, muttering under her breath, "Stupid humans."

"As true as that is, you did manage to talk a crowd of people down and saved the lives of ten people, including yourself," the final man - Tobirama - says.

"No," the girl says, giving him a droll look over her shoulder, "I do believe that was you, sir. If you weren't there, I'm sure he'd light a match and throw it on us after a healthy dousing of lighter fluid and that would be the end of that. So, I think you are the one that saved us. I just scared the crowd away." She shrugs her shoulders. She wouldn't admit it - especially out loud - but she was proud that she was able to do that.

She takes a deep breath and submerges into the water, running her fingers through her long, thick hair, trying to clean the mud from it. She keeps her eyes closed but it sure that the area around her head is turning cloudy. She shakes her head around and rubs at her scalp before she's sure most of it is probably out and reemerges, letting out the remainder of the air and gasping for another lung full and relaxing. Her kimono and hair were heavy. Her hair settled down to her lower back, making it hard to turn her head a bit.

She glances over at the men, noting with mild surprise that all four had their backs to her, respectfully. "Huh," she says aloud. "I guess chivalry isn't dead." She walks back over to the shore just about three feet away from Hashirama. There was a bunch of rocks there, and her bag that she dropped in the struggle. Thankfully it didn't fall into the water.

Before the four men turned to her, she peeled off her sodded kimono, letting it hit the water with a loud and soppy splash, making all four men jump and then go rigid as they realized it was her clothes that she had removed. The was in a thin white under layer of her kimono that was undamaged, but see-through and unabashedly changed into a new kimono.

She wrings out her hair before tossing it back over her shoulder and walking around to the front of the four men, her bag over her shoulder and eyebrow raised.

"You guys were gentlemen to the end of that. Cool." She crosses her arms over her chest watching as the four men stare at her dark pink locks. Even in the darkness that has settled around them, the moon provides enough light to see that it is definitely pink.

"It really is pink," the presumably youngest boy - Izuna - says, eyes wide.

"Yeah, yeah," the girl says then waves her hand around dismissively. "I'm really busy, so what do you want to ask? Just make it quick." The less time she spent with Hunters, the better.

"Uh..." Hashirama says, dumb-founded. He looks over at his brother and two Uchiha brothers, mouth opening in closing, unsure of what to ask under pressure. "Um, where are you going?"

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Why?" She asks plainly. "Thinking about tagging along?"

She meant it as an annoyed jab, or maybe even as a dismissive brush off, but Hashirama shrugged and said, "Sure." And she didn't know how to respond to that. She just stares at him with a weird look on her face.

"Why?" is the only thing that she could force from her lips.

"We have a common goal, I suppose," Hashirama says, glancing over at the three other men to see them speaking to each other with their eyes. Once he seems to get the message, he smiles charmingly at her. "Would that be okay with you?"

"No," she says, dumbly.

Hashirama's entire face fell. "Oh, why? We could make a good team. The four of us are pretty strong, I'll admit, but we don't know all the important things about witches we probably should before fighting them. If you truly are knowledgeable, then you would fit in perfectly. We promise not to hold you back." His smile is a perfect mixture of friendly, disarming, goofy and charming, it baffled the pink haired girl as to how he pulled that off.

"You got one thing right," the pink haired girl manages to say. "You don't know what's important about dealing with witches."

"What's that?" Izuna asks, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning onto one hip.

"They used to be people," the emerald eyed girl says softly, face worn and sad. "They used to have conversations, think, feel like us. They haven't been gone long, and yet people seem to already forget that."

Madara's black eyes lower and to Hashirama's credit, looked genuinely remorseful. Izuna let out a long breath, as if uncomfortable with that thought while Tobirama looked completely impassive.

"I'm not aiming to kill just the witches here in the Land of Fire," the girl says suddenly, emerald eyes hard. "I'm going to kill of the witches within the Grand Fire Coven. All of them. Even the Grand Witch. If you really want to ultimately face her and die trying to defeat her, then you are more than welcome to come along, if not, I suggest you don't start down this road. Especially if you are afraid of what lies at the end."

She wasn't sure what she wanted from telling them that. Maybe she wanted to scare them away. Make them realize that she was serious and this wasn't just some game to her and have them turn tail. Or maybe she wanted to test their mettle. She knew it was going to be impossible hard to fight the Grand Witch on her own, and in some ways wanted companions, but she just didn't want to come right out and say it. That, and she didn't want them to bail out on her half way through their mission.

But instead of getting scared, or nervous, the two sets of brothers looked determined. Like someone lit a fire under their butts and they were running off sheer force of will. There wasn't even an ounce of fear in their eyes. Almost like this was their goal all along. That surprises the pinkette. Her eyebrows are raised as close to the hairline as they can be.

"Then it's settled," Madara says simply. "Shall we get moving?"

Unsure of exactly what happened, the girl nods slowly. "I suppose. But aren't you afraid?"

"Certainly," Tobirama says, voice sounding very calm, not afraid at all. "But we have a stake in this. We set out on this journey with the intension of finding the Grand Witch and killing her."

The pink haired girl flinches, wanting to ask why that was, just to ask, not sure she wants to know the answer, but by the hard set look on all of their faces, she suspected that she really wouldn't like to hear the answer and decides to let it drop.

"I... guess that we are working together now," the pink haired girl says slowly.

"It would appear that way, yes," Izuna says simply, uncrossing his arms.

"I suppose I should introduce myself, then, if we are going to be spending a lot of time together. I'm Sakura Haruno."


	2. Pity

**Author's Note: Hello! Sorry it's been so long! I'm loving the interest in this story! I'm sorry that it took so long I've been busy with other stories, work and life! I still don't have a plan for the pairing so I'm all ears on who the main pairing should be! Let me know what you think! Also, one of my stories was started turning into a graphic novel - it's my Final Fantasy one - and I am floating on cloud nine! :D Alright, I'm heading off to bed now! Goodnight! And check out the poll on my page! It's got nothing to do with this story but I would appreciate it! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

 **Warnings: Language and OOCness.**

 **Word Count: 4,460**

"Idiots," Sakura says, staring at the four men in front of her. "I swear you're all a bunch of idiots."

"Sakura," Hashirama starts to say but the pink haired girl holds up her hand to stop him. Tobirama flings his hands around, trying to get the black goop the witch shot at him, in their frantic and kind of embarrassing retreat, off of his shirt, pants and hands. She got him good.

"I swear..." Sakura mutters, shaking her head. Hashirama opens his mouth to talk again, but Sakura waves her hand around to stop him. "No, don't speak yet. Have you guys ever _really_ faced a witch before, or were all of those stories I've heard about you really just rumors?" She looks between them. Her eyes land on silently awaiting Hashirama. "Now you may talk."

"We have," Hashirama says slowly, worried that Sakura was going to stop him again, when she didn't, he continues, "but those were different than these. They traveled together in... in like packs of five to ten. They weren't like that..."

Sakura stares at him, at first in confusion, and then in horror. Then, her face falls solemn and she bows her head slightly. "You didn't fight witches. At least not fully realized witches."

"What does that mean?" Tobirama asks. "Are they like the ghouls?"

Sakura shakes her head, frowning deeply. "No, ghouls are people tainted by the essence of one of these witches. What you all faced were the apprentices."

Hashirama's eyes widen in absolute horror. "You... you don't mean..."

"Yes," Sakura says, voice flat. "What you fought and killed where the young apprentices brought to the witches for training. Children brought to the coven for training. They had no or little control over their magic. They wouldn't have posed as much of a threat as a fully realized witch would have. Now this makes sense. I guess I can't fault you for not knowing how to fight a true witch."

Sakura just stands there for a moment, letting them settle into silence before she says, "You've just been killing babies." She didn't mean it in the way it sounded. It was just something that Sakura had realized. She didn't mean it to hurt their feelings or make them feel bad. The apprentices had to be stopped and while she knew that, she had been dreading it. In the back of her head, she did notice that she had yet to run into more than a group or two. Now she knew why, they were being killed off by the Uchiha and Senju clans.

"Oh... oh no..." Hashirama says, bringing his hand to his lips. His face is actually taken on a green tint.

Sakura realizes her mistake. "No, before you get all depressed and upset, it had to be done," Sakura says, sounding a mixture of remorseful and bitter, even to her own ears. But there was also a bit of relief there too. The more they killed, the less she did. Maybe that was selfish of her to think.

"I can't believe we were killing babies..." Hashirama says brokenly, looking like his heart was ripped from his chest. Tobirama bows his head remorsefully while Izuna turns his head away sharply a prominent frown on his lips.

"Fuck," Madara growls, hands curling into fists.

Sakura's shoulders slump. She knew what she was getting into when she began to hunt the Grand Fire Coven witches. But they didn't. Maybe in some way they suspected it, but to actually kill something that housed the soul of what was once a child was something that Sakura spent many nights sitting up thinking about before having actually hunted any of them down. She can't imagine what it must be like to find out so suddenly and out of the blue.

Plus, something tells her that on principal alone, these men don't do a lot to hurt children. So this must be a low moral blow and Sakura was running her mouth again, insensitively.

Her mother would be furious with her. Her mother was always telling her to be more thoughtful with her words. She was always so blunt she would hurt people without meaning to, like now for example.

"They are just suffering as they are," Sakura says softly, feeding them the rationality she used that helped her sleep at night, hoping it would offer them a smidge of relief despite the situation as it did for her. "You released them from their agony. You needn't feel shame for that."

None of them look like that made them really feel any better, but it was a better way to look at it, even if none of them - now even Sakura - would be getting any sleep tonight because of it.

Sakura rubs her forehead and leans against a nearby tree, wanting to move on and try to get all of their minds off of that terrible conversation. "Okay, let's go through the events of the night."

Having something else to focus on brings all four of the brothers back to the present. All looking in varying degrees of embarrassment. Surprisingly, Madara's the red faced on, Hashirama is laughing with an idiot grin on his face, Izuna's chin is tucked into his chest and Tobirama is looking away, his eyebrow twitching like mad. If Sakura didn't know any better, she would guess that they don't mess up much and being caught in the middle of a big fuck up is probably like cracking their egos with a moutain's girth.

"Do we have to?" Izuna asks, his voice quiet in the early evening. With a witch being so close the local wildlife is silent.

A cruel smile tugs at the corner of Sakura's lips. "How will you idiots ever learn if you don't understand what you did wrong?"

"Believe me," Izuna grumbles, "I think we all realized what we did wrong."

"That was so embarrassing," Madara mumbles, shaking his head.

Hashirama lets out a healthy laugh, making the three other men glare at him. "I've never heard you squawk before, Madara, I have to say, it was something!"

Madara glares at him murderously. "Shut up, Hashirama. I didn't _squawk._ I... grunted."

Izuna grins over at his brother. "Sure, the birds were jealous of your perfect rendition of a grunt, Madara."

Madara's glare turns to his little brother equally as murderous. "Izuna..."

Sakura shakes her head, amused by this entire thing. Not nearly as amused as Hashirama, who was still cackling a few feet away, arms wrapped around the trunk of the tree he's next to using it to keep standing while he laughs. He was an odd one. Glancing over in his direction, Sakura suspects she sees tears running down his face with his laughter. Tobirama gives his brother a droll look while Madara actually whacks him over the back of the head, hissing at him to shut up once more.

"Okay," Sakura says, shaking her head. "Let's just go over the finer points: the situation is _never_ as it seems; this witch in particular is a master of illusion, the ghouls you faced and the apprentices don't hold a candle to the flame of a fully realized and well trained witch, no matter how silly they look witches are still _fucking dangerous, dumbasses_ , so don't laugh, and lastly," Sakura turns to Tobirama, who was still flicking the goop off of his pants and shirt. "That shit is not only going to stain, Tobirama," he looks up at her, surprised, "but it's also going to stink. Like, for a while."

Tobirama blanches at that and Hashirama is laughing again.

"If I had known it wasn't acid rather a stinky ass goop, I would have let it hit you," Tobirama seethes, glaring at his brother.

Hashirama laughs even more. "Thank you for throwing yourself in the way of it for me, Tobi! I will forever be in your debt. I'd hug you, but you stink!" Tobirama snarls at his brother.

Madara turns a bland expression toward Izuna. "That's some loyalty, Izuna. Care for some input? I was pretty close to Hashirama when she spit that shit."

Izuna laughs, putting his hands on his hips. "What are you asking me, Madara? Are you asking me if I would jump in the way and save your life, if it came to it? Sure. But I knew you would be fast enough to avoid it and like hell was I going to gracefully accept humiliation like Tobirama currently is." He turns a wolfish smile to the heir to the Senju bloodline.

Tobirama's lip curls slightly but manages to keep his tongue. Even Madara looks slightly amused.

"Okay, okay," Sakura says, waving her arms around to get their attention, "shut up, idiots." Both sets of brothers turn to her. "We'll head out a little ways and rest for the night. Thankfully this witch won't pursue us and is only active during the day."

"Is that usual for a witch?" Madara asks, flip switched back completely to business. "To be active during the day. The... apprentices were only active at night."

Sakura shakes her head, quickly moving on so that no one can linger on that subject again. "It takes great power for these witches to be active during the day so the apprentices are a hundred years too young to be able to do it. But this witch is a bit different. Her power is specific to the nighttime, so she's active during the day to counter it. If we sneak up on her at night, we're screwed."

"What does she control?" Tobirama asks, "We didn't get that far."

Sakura crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. "She controls shadows. Shadows are higher cast during the day but a hell of a lot harder to avoid at night. And it's not naturally made shadows alone that she can control, she can also make them. It's best to be able to at least see them."

"That's a good idea," Hashirama says, settling down once more, now that they are back to business. "What should we do now?"

Sakura sighs. "Let's find some place to camp for the night and talk it over in a few hours."

Sakura turns around and starts walking away from the sickly feeling clawing at the back of her head, alerting her to the witch's proximity. The feeling easing as she puts distance between them.

"Sakura," Izuna calls out to her.

"Yes?" Sakura sighs, glancing over at the youngest of her four companions past her shoulder.

"I just have to know since I know it's going to gross the hell out of Tobirama," Izuna says, grinning now.

Sakura's eyebrow quirks up curiously. "Yeah?"

"What the hell is that black shit all over him?" Izuna asks, letting out a little laugh. Tobirama glares at him.

Sakura lets out a laugh, shaking her head before mumbling something.

"What was that?" Izuna asks, tiliting his head. "What did you say?"

Hashirama steps up beside her and makes a show of leaning in close when Sakura mumbles. As soon as she finishes, Hashirama completely falls to his knees and lets out a loud cackle, rolling onto his side, then back, kicking his legs around in his hysterics. Madara and Tobirama both stop and stare at him with wide, confused eyes while Izuna's grin practically splits his face in two.

"Oh, this has got to be good," Izuna says, letting out a chuckle at Hashirama's exasperated laugh.

"And it is!" Hashirama says through his laughter.

"Shit," Tobirama says, running a hand through his hair. As soon as he finished, he looked down at his previously goop-ified hand in horror, probably wondering what he had just done.

"She..." Hashirama says, stopping because he can't breath. "She...! She..!"

"Spit it out, Hashirama!" Madara snaps, annoyed.

"She... she spit a loogie at him!" Hashirama starts laughing again with renewed vigor. Sakura busts out laughing, surprising herself. There was just something about he way Hashirama said it that was hilarious, and his laugh was contagious. She hasn't laughed in a long time. It sounded strange in her ear.

And even though it felt like it lifted a huge weight from her shoulder, the moment she remembered, the moment that day crawled back out into the light from the darkness in the back of her mind once more, the weight dropped back onto her shoulder with renewed force and another hundred pounds to accompany it. Sakura feels her shoulder bow like it was a physical weight.

Sakura turns away from the two sets of brothers, hands curled into fists.

* * *

Sakura steps back, avoiding the whip-like tendril of darkness flying past her face. She takes another step back for good measure. Madara goes charging by moving faster than a regular human would. Being part of a shinobi clan - especially one as prominent as the Uchiha - is a lineage filled with magic. In one way or another, they have been touched by the witches.

There is magic in their blood, without having any connection to the witches. It leads Sakura to wonder if that has something to do with their reasoning for hunting the witches. She had to wonder if somewhere along the family line, of both clans, there was witch that brought magic into them. Obviously they had boys that didn't become warlocks, so the magic just laced itself into the bloodline without manifesting as witches. At least, not as far as Sakura knew.

Most girls forsake their name, or are stripped of them, when they become witches. Most witches don't have full names. Just first names and something to distinguish them by. Like the one they were fighting right now; Yoshino of the Shadow.

She was probably pretty at one point in her life, but now she was a mess. Her head had engorged, almost comically to where it was almost the entirety of her being, and became the new center of her mass. Her body was small, like a doll's that just sort of hovered beneath her enlarged head. Her eyes were wide and bugged out and her nose was gone while her mouth was tiny. It was comical to Sakura, if she took away the idea that strange creature before her used to be human.

What was once Yoshino, mumbles something incoherent in a voice that sounds like she sucked in gallons of helium. Sakura lets out a little breath, feeling bad for thinking that the hideous creature before her - that was once human - was humorous now that it was no longer human. Sakura should pity and mourn for this creature - this woman - before her, not laugh at her.

Someone tackles her from the side, throwing her out of the way of another tendril shooting toward her chest. Namely her heart. Sakura glances over at Izuna, jumping to his feet and pulling out his sword to block three more that shot toward them.

"Are you alright?" Izuna asks, planting his feet to keep firm to hold the tendrils back.

"Yes," Sakura says, climbing to her feet. "Sorry about that. Thanks for the help."

"There is never more than forty tendrils," Tobirama yells.

Sakura shakes her head and slides into a defensive crouch, spreading her legs wide. She traded in her usual, light traditional kimono for leggings and a short red kimono with a long black sleeve shirt underneath it.

Sakura lets out a deep breath, bringing her hand up to her forehead. She murmurs a few soft words before slipping her fingers away from the purple diamond branded on her forehead. It's always there, but with a few soft words, she can hide it against her skin but she needs it revealed to access her strength. One of the perks of magic.

Sakura races forward, dodging through the tendrils of darkness, and avoid the shadows of the trees around her toward the almost balbus-like form hanging from between four trees, dangling like a spider over it's web.

She dodges between the tendrils, feeling one scrape across her cheek while another slides across her thigh, slicing open the skin and fabric. Sakura doesn't bat an eyelash. In her peripheral, Sakura sees Madara sweeps his gunbai fan to the side before swiping it to the other side, sending a torrent of fire toward the side of Yoshino. Her little lips perk and over a dozen of the tendrils go to that side, pressing close together and forming a pitch black, wiggly barrier between her and the flame.

Hashirama's strong sword easily slices through the tendrils like hot blade through butter. He uses it to draw in close on the other side. Yoshino uses more tendrils toward that side to try and stop Hashirama. Tobirama circled around the back, his own sword, crackling with lightning, slicing and dicing through the tendrils while Izuna jumped high into the air, sword pointed down toward Yoshino's head. She creates another barrier to put between herself and Izuna, leaving her open to Sakura.

All she has to do is slide through a few of the remaining tendrils before she makes it to the little body and the huge head. There is a moment where the little hands slide forward and reach out for her. It was a horrible, traumatizing moment where everything slows down. In those wide eyes, blinking out of sync from one another, there is a bit of recognition. Not of Sakura, but of what was going to happen.

A part of Yoshino still existed. Just like with all of the other girls. A part of them continued to exist, swallowed by the madness and chaos in their bodies and souls that is only released after the witch realizes that she is going to die. It's a terrible thing that breaks Sakura's heart each time she sees it. Whatever this curse is, it allows the girls to awaken in the last moment of their life, force them to realize what they've done and who they have become.

Sakura pulls out a needle, it's all she needs, and slides it into the small body, where the heart should be. Her entire being spasms, twitching as the eyes lull back and forth in different directions before the tendrils explode into smoke and vanish. Yoshino's body is bathed in light and Sakura backs up slowly, bringing her hand up to her forehead and hiding the diamond again, hating this part the most.

Yoshino is beautiful. Sakura was right. Her hair was dark as night and slides all the way down to her waist. Her eyes are black as well and her skin is fair. Where at one point in her transformation her skin was gray and crinkly as if she had age ninety years since she was cursed, she has now reverted through time. She appears to be in her mid-twenties with smooth, pale skin that lacks the years that she appeared to have before. Her long hair floats around her like a pillow, disappearing into oblivion like the tendrils of darkness she controlled.

Sakura felt the guys shift to her side to get a better look at the beautiful woman before them.

"Who..?" Izuna asks, eyes blown wide. "What happened?"

"This is the witch," Sakura says. "When she dies, her magic allows her take her souls true form. Magic can never lie. It is a universal truth. The power of a witch has much to say about their souls. This is this witch's true form."

Yoshino, while naked, doesn't appear to notice. There is an ethereal glow about her, as her dark eyes scan the four men in front of her, before she smiles sadly. Her eyes are filled with a deep and profound sadness, just like all of the girls before her. There is a puncture hole in her chest from where Sakura's killed her, but the woman doesn't appear to feel it and she's not bleeding.

Her lips tremble for a moment. Her eyes lock onto Sakura's and she nods her head slowly, lips parting with a soft, guilt-ridden and broken, "I am sorry." Before she too exploded into oblivion, leaving her mark behind.

Each witch leaves behind a scar on the world, proof that she had lived with, loved, and terrorized, the world around her. Sakura hasn't seen one of the witches yet not do this. It wasn't something that happened before. Sakura doesn't really know why this happens, but it breaks her heart to see it every single time.

What Yoshino left behind is a shadow burned into the ground. The shadow of a beautiful woman, taken far too soon.

Sakura's shoulder droop. She didn't know that she had them tensed up. Sakura let out a sigh and turns away. She does a little body shake before she begins walking, reaching out with her senses, picking a direction and then going.

"Sakura!" Hashirama calls out, running after her. "Sakura, wait!"

Sakura looks up at the darkened sky, they had been fighting for hours and they were all exhausted. Sakura just didn't have the strength to do much else other than walk.

"Sakura," Hashirama says, grabbing Sakura's arm to hold her in place.

"What?" Sakura snaps, glaring up at him. "What now? We've got to move on."

"Don't you want to say something?" Hashirama asks, pausing to glance back over at his little brother, best friend and best friend's little brother. All of them stand a bit away from the spot where Yoshino died. All of them look like they wanted something that Sakura just couldn't understand. She looks between them with a frown on her lips and a crease between her eyebrows.

"What? What would I have to say?" Sakura asks blandly.

Hashirama releases Sakura's arm, frowning. "Shouldn't someone say something?"

"Why?" Sakura asks, turning to Hashirama, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hashirama hesitates. "I don't know. It... it just feels like it's not right otherwise. Someone should say something."

"Did you say something over every person you killed?" Sakura asks, voice flat. She's oddly defensive despite the situation. She's been doing just fine on her own for years. She doesn't need these people coming in and telling her how to mourn those that she killed. She made peace with the fact that she was going to be killing a lot of innocent people. This was all pointless.

Hashirama hesitates again, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Well... it just... doesn't feel right to leave without saying anything to her."

Sakura shakes her head. "What are you doin-" Then she realizes, looking at all of them. Her eyes narrow dangerously. "No, don't do that. Don't pity her for being a woman. Don't pity killing her because she was a woman. Rejoice in knowing you killed a monster, save possibly hundreds of lives and released a tormented captive from her hell. Don't try and be all high and mighty," Sakura sneers.

"It's not like that at all," Izuna says, stepping closer and shaking his head. "She didn't deserve to die."

"Oh trust me," Sakura snarls, "that bitch had to go. She wasn't human anymore. She wasn't even a witch. She was a monster cursed into going against her nature to slaughter innocence and devour the pain of this world to grow stronger from it. Do not pity her for dying, that was release. Pity her for being changed into a monster in the first place. She will not get cured by your need to feel bad that she was born without the same genitalia as you," Sakura says cuttingly.

Izuna looks shocked by her words. "That's not it."

"She doesn't need kind words or flowery sentiments," Sakura says chillingly. "For two war-mongering clans, you are a bunch of idiots if you think that she needs or wants either of those. She apologized for the pain she caused others. She wanted them to be pitied, not her. She wants the son of a bitch who did this her and her coven to drown in the pain and anguish they've caused for everyone involved. If you couldn't see that in her eyes, then you must all be blind as hell. And not fucking cut out for this job."

With that, Sakura spins on her heels and walks away, hands curled up into fists so tight they begin to cramp.

As she walked away, a part of Sakura wondered if they weren't going to follow. Since they joined up with her - god, had it been over a month already? - she has been telling them all that they need to know about tracking witches - real ones - and how to read their abilities based on the havoc that they cause. Witches are instinctual creatures now without much thought process being the need to feed. Whatever it is that they devour, they will do nothing to stop themselves from getting it. Not even a higher form of rationality.

But they are by no means stupid. In fact, they are quite intelligent to a degree. Not as smart as humans, but they don't have to be. With the things that they can do, a normal human usually wouldn't stand a chance.

And while there is still much that they need to learn, Sakura is a bit more confident in knowing that they stand a better chance against the witches now than they did before and while the companionship the two sets of brothers offered Sakura was... interesting. She is fine with parting with them at any time. She worked better on her own anyway. It was their choice to follow. Not her own.

Before Sakura had the chance to analyze it further, footsteps appeared on either side of her and behind her. A spare glance to her right showed Madara following with this dark, determined look in his eye.

No words were needed. One look at the four men gave Sakura everything she needed to know about them - at least for now. They were all in.

Maybe Sakura could put up with them for a little while longer.


	3. Song

**Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait! I've been busy with so many other things that I haven't been able to give this story the attention that it deserves. I am so sorry! I just love hearing what everyone has to say! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

 **Warnings: Language, OOCness and unbeta'd.**

 **Word Count: 4,279**

"Listen to me," Sakura says slowly, putting her hand on the woman's shoulder, looking deep into her brown eyes. "Are you listening to me?" The woman nods slowly. "Good. Don't be a fucking idiot. That is the worst possible idea that you could ever have. Got it?"

She blinks rapidly, probably not used to being spoken to like that. "B-But, why?"

Sakura pats the woman's shoulder, smiling placatingly. "Because, hun, if we let you go in there, you'd die a horrible, clenching, oozing death. Unless you want to do that, you should just back off and let the professional and her four stupid lackeys deal with this, okay?" She nods, as if it was already decided. "Great!" She pulls her hands back, placing them onto her hips. "Now, head on back to the village. Go on now."

"Sakura," Hashirama says, rubbing the back of his head. "She's not a dog, and while I agree that we don't want her to put her life in any form of danger, I don't think you should just brush her off like that. You're hurting her feelings."

Sakura sighs. "I don't have time to give a shit about everyone's feelings, okay? That witch isn't going to wait."

"But!" The woman calls out to Sakura, who had turned her back to the village girl to go after the witch. "Miss, wait!"

"What?" Sakura snaps, turning back around. "I have somewhere I need to be. What do you want?"

The girl hesitates for a split second eyeing the two sets of brothers around her, as if uncomfortable in their presence. A part of her looked like she wanted to speak to Sakura in private but the impatient pink haired girl began to tap her foot against the dirt and it spurs the other girl to just speak. "My brother... he was taken by that witch. She... I... She was after me. He got in her way and so she took him." She bows her head, long dark brown hair sliding over her shoulder, eyes watering. "I need to help save my brother. Please!" She looks up at Sakura, eyes shaking but showing a strong resolve.

Sakura stares at her for a moment. She lets out a little sigh. "Okay."

Hashirama and Madara stare at her as if she had lost her mind while Izuna gasps, "Really?"

"You mean it?" The girl asks, eyes wide.

"No," Sakura says flatly, "are you nuts?" She points toward the village. "Go home."

Tobirama raises an eyebrow. "Wow."

"Shot down," Izuna says softly, black eyes wide. Tobirama nods slowly in agreement.

The girl stares back at Sakura, utterly upset and embarrassed for having gotten her hopes up only to be shot down once again. "But why? I want to be able to help! Why can't you just let me?"

Sakura sighs, running a hand through her hair slowly, wondering how much more time they were going to waste on this before deciding that she could no longer be nice about this. She was just going to have to be truthful about the situation and hope that this girl understood. "Listen," Sakura says, stepping closer to the girl again. "Are you listening to me?"

"Yes..." the girl says slowly.

"That witch isn't going to hurt your brother," Sakura says.

Everyone stares back at her, surprised. The girl blinks in shock. "Really?" She asks, hope edging into her voice.

"Really..." Madara says, disbelief evident in his tone. Tobirama looked just as skeptical at her words.

Sakura nods. "Yes, it's true. That witch's prey is girls. Once she realizes that she got a boy, she'll let him go. I can't let you go with because you are by default one of her token prey. She will be adamant about getting you if you come with. Now, please, let me do my job and teach these four dumbasses how to fight witches and stop any more women from becoming this witch's prey, okay?"

Finally the girl nods in understanding. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble." She goes to bow respectfully but Sakura waves her hand around dismissively.

"If you finally understand, then go home." The girl nods and leaves, going down the dirt path that leads back to the small village at the bottom of the hill. She waits until she can no longer see the girl before turning to Izuna. "I'm glad you volunteered, Little Brother Uchiha."

Izuna's dark eyes widen. "What? What did I volunteer for?"

"You are exactly that witch's type," Sakura explains. "I'm going to need you to go in there and distract her while me, the prodigal brothers and the man with the nicest hair I have ever seen sneak in for the kill." Hashirama appeared to be the only one who liked their new identifiers.

Izuna blinks slowly, trying to contain his smile for a moment before it finally passes and he asks, seriously, "Didn't you tell that girl that the witch didn't like boys?" A pause, then, "You lied, didn't you?"

Sakura snorts. "What kind of jerk do you think I am?" Madara makes a look at that but she ignores him. "I didn't lie about that. Let's just say... she prefers her bed partners have more," Sakura gestures to her body, "then that," she points at Izuna's crotch.

"She's sleeping with the girls she kidnaps?" Tobirama asks, while Izuna turns away a bit, embarrassed to have just been blatantly violated in one single, slightly crude gesture. Tobirama's red eyes are wide at this new information.

Sakura frowns. "I wish it was as simple as that. She's... doing stuff to them, I'm sure. And in a different life, I'm sure she probably had a lot of willing partners, but such a thing is of the past. Now she's absorbing their life force into herself and... well, who knows what she's doing with the bodies afterward."

Hashirama gasps, brown eyes wide. Thankfully Sakura didn't have to paint the picture for them.

Izuna looks at her uncomfortably. "I don't get it. Why am I doing this when she's obviously into girls? I mean, why aren't _you_ doing this?"

Sakura scoffs. "And give her what she wants? Hell no. I'll keep everything that is outside my body, just that. Who knows what she'd do to me." Sakura shivers unpleasantly. Madara looks slightly horrified while Hashirama's jaw actually dropped.

Izuna looks exasperated. "What the hell does that mean?" He throws his hands up into the air. "I would like for the same damn thing! I still haven't heard why it has to be me!"

"Kami damn it, Izuna, you are the pretties, effeminate man I have ever seen!" Sakura says back, throwing her hands up. "Accept your destiny and take it like a trooper!" She does a shooing gesture toward the cave up ahead that the witch is hiding in. "Besides, we are only using you because you are pretty enough to get close to her and once she is blinding in horror by your man bits, we will be able to move in for the kill."

"He's a fucking trap!" Hashirama realizes, letting out a bark of surprised laughter. Madara lets out an amused huff, but still looks anxious about this entire thing, not wanting to send his little brother into danger, needlessly.

"There is something I don't understand," Tobirama says, turning to Sakura slowly.

"What is it?" Sakura asks.

"Why is this happening to me?" Izuna whines, running his hands through his long dark blue hair, pulling it from it's low ponytail to redo it, preparing himself for this next battle.

Ignoring Izuna, Tobirama asks, "What is going to happen to that girl's brother once the witch realizes that she got a boy instead of a girl?"

Sakura shrugs. "No clue. I would assume that she would probably just toss him away and if she doesn't have any-" Her eyes widen. "Oh shit!"

"What?" Hashirama asks, snapping into work mode.

"The girls that she absorbs," Sakura says quickly waving her hands around, "once she absorbs their life force, I bet you anything she turns them into ghouls! I thought that the incidents were separate but this makes sense. The witch may let him go but the ghouls won't. They'll eat him."

"Then we shouldn't waste any more time," Izuna says, looking mighty displeased.

Madara looks like he wants to protest, but must sense that they really don't have time to come up with a better - or really an a _ctual_ \- plan. Each moment wasted is a possible gruesome death sentence for that boy. Without sparing another moment, the small team begins moving.

* * *

"Get him, Tobirama!" Hashirama yells, swinging his broad sword around, killing the ghouls that surrounded him.

As Tobirama races through the gathering of a couple dozen ghouls, all of their long nailed, pale blue hands try and grab at him, toward the cowering young man on the other side of the room, next to Izuna who is trying to play keep away from the witch and keep the boy safe from the ghouls.

The ghouls are very humanoid in shape, their skin a very pale, bluish gray color with blackened out veins. Their nails are elongated, as are their teeth, but the blunt teeth are broken and chipped to be a broken maw of sharp, jagged teeth, an extra row or two added in too. Their eyes fall out and their ears are like bloated masses on the sides of their heads. All of their hair is missing and anything physically distinguishable about them is gone. No breasts or vaginas visible as the skin melted away at one point only to regrow at these creatures.

Truly ugly creatures twisted by magic.

The witch, on the other hand, wasn't like Yoshino. She wasn't bloated, or bulbous. But she was more hideous than humorous looking. She looked humanoid, but her skin was gray and decaying off of the bone, like on her arms and one of her legs is especially bad, but the bone is like the toughest metal and not to be underestimated. She doesn't feel the pain physically anymore. Her arms are somehow removed from their sockets, making them awkwardly longer, but magic keeps them moving easily, and her hair is gone and so is a chunk of the back of her head and one of her eyes.

She didn't make little fishy faces like Yoshino did. She opened her mouth and screeched so unholy that Sakura's ears hurt and her skin crawled. Any ghoul too close to her when she screeched, their heads would just explode. Sakura suspects that a part of it has to be that because the two sets of brothers are from ninja clans, therefore they have a bit of magic in their blood, they are able to survive being so close to her screams and not just die on the spot. The boy, thankfully, has always been just far enough away when she screams. His ears are bleeding, Sakura notes, and his hearing may be shot at this point.

Those screeches though. There is something about her screaming that sounded a little off to Sakura. But also a bit familiar somehow. It sounded weird to think about, but she just couldn't place where the sound is familiar to her from. While she would love to just sit there and ponder just what the answer to that could be, she knew she didn't have the time. She had to focus on not getting herself killed. She doesn't do anyone any good dead.

Ain't that something?

Tobirama weaves through the claws to the young boy, probably sixteen years old, yanking up onto his feet by the collar of his top and shoving him against the nearest wall. The boy begins to inch across the wall towards the entrance of the cave to escape while Tobirama keeps the ghouls away with his electrified blade - the Raijin, he called it once.

Now that Izuna no longer has to worry about he boy, he turns his attention toward the witch, alongside Madara.

Figuring that they could handle this witch themselves, Sakura helps Hashirama kill off the ghouls. Armed with a kunai in each hand, she slices and stabs at all of the clawed hands and gaping mawed faces that got a little too close. She works her way over to Hashirama to keep his back covered, and also her own. Hashirama seems to sense her intentions because he makes his way over to her too.

Once they reach one another, they turn back to back and fight off what feels like hordes of ghouls. Sakura knew that their numbers were starting to thin - or at least she was hoping so - but it just didn't feel like it. It felt like they just keep coming.

From where Sakura is fighting, she can see Madara and Izuna fighting the witch, dancing around her claws and her ghouls that sneak up behind them. She manages to grab hold of Madara's sleeve, leaning in close to him, taking in a deep breath to scream at him when he brings the heel of the handle of his fan and hits her ear as hard as he can. Apparently it's a very sensitive part of her body because she lets out a screech, but this time in pain, rather than as an attack. She clutches her ear and stumbles backward - right into Izuna.

The younger brother brings his sword parallel to the uneven cave ground and launches himself forward, shoving the sword through her back and chest. She lets out this horrible screech that echoes off the walls of the caves, making Sakura's head hurt, but she can't spare a moment to dwell on the pain and keeps moving, killing the ghouls as quickly as she can as a bright white light begins to envelope around the witch. She can't pause to see what's happening as she fights her way through the ghouls.

A few moments later, now that Tobirama was back in the fray and the boy was gone, and Madara and Izuna no longer had to worry about the witch, the five of them were easily able to kill all of the ghouls in time to see beautiful Tayuya staring back at them, hovering a few feet off the ground.

Tayuya, the sound mistress. Now her screeches make sense, it was the sound of a flute with too much air blowing through it without proper direction.

Her long red hair flowed around her, much like Yoshino's had, except her hair didn't disappear into oblivion like Yoshino's did. She too, is naked, but clutched in her right hand is a flute. Her red eyes are sad, and there is a frown on her lips.

She opens her mouth, about to say something, before she closes her mouth and brings the flute up to her lips. She takes a deep breath and blows into the flute, playing a beautiful, but sad tune. Sakura can feel the music in her soul. It makes her chest heavy and recalls all sorts of images behind her eyelids that she just wished would stop haunting her. Sakura feels all sorts of things, listening to Tayuya play the flute.

She is sad. Heartbroken, even. Such a beautiful sound, while sad, is enough to ignite her soul in a way she didn't think was possible. It makes her skin crawl and her stomach plummet into the soles of her feet. It was so sad, conveying Tayuya's pain in a way that she simply couldn't in words. It rings loud and clear to Sakura, and when she finally brings herself to open her eyes - she didn't know she closed - and she could see the other boys, standing amongst the dead ghouls, staring at Tayuya, listening to her flute.

Sakura is glad, though, in her own way. Like with all of the witches that Sakura killed before Tayuya, and even Yoshino, she is happy that Tayuya is now free. Sakura couldn't believe that someone could be so cruel to these lovely ladies, but they held her deepest condolences. She didn't need to say any words and offer them peace because death was all that was needed in place of words.

Once her little song is over, Tayuya lowers the flute from her lips and explodes into starlight, like Yoshino and every other witch before her. The last thing she offered them was a small, sad smile. And then she was gone.

Sakura turns to leave, happy when the boys fall into place beside her, not stopping to question her this time. As they leave the cave, Sakura pauses when a sound catches her attention.

"What?" Hashirama says softly. "Is that...?"

"Every witch leaves something behind in her death, right?" Madara says, casting a meaningful glance Sakura's way. The pink haired girl nods.

"It's her song," Izuna says, as a sad flute song plays out of the cave, so faint it could be mistaken for the wind. But they all knew better.

Years from now, not ten, maybe not even twenty, but years from now people will stumble across this cave - after witches and magic has long since died out in the minds of man - and hear music playing out of this cave and wonder how that is even possible. It will pierce their souls and break their hearts but they will never know for what reason.

Tayuya's scar on the planet will be a never ending hymn of sadness, pain, and loss from a girl who no one, but Sakura, will ever remember.

* * *

Sakura runs her fingers through her long pink hair, shaking her head around a bit to try and dry off the dark, wet strands. She looks around the fire seeing Madara and Hashirama quietly whispering about something, Tobirama is sharpening his blade and Izuna is tending to the fire. She was so used to being on her own for so long, in some ways it's still strange to look around the fire and acknowledge these men as her comrades, because that's what they are.

They are really starting to grow on her. It's been a month and a half since they joined her in her witch killing crusade, and she's even starting to enjoy their presence. While she doesn't mind being along, it is simply something that she's used to and even enjoys, it is also nice to have people around her to be able to share with and goof around with. She hadn't been around people for this long in years and missed the human connection.

Ever since the Grand Fire Coven was destroyed and the witches turned ravenous, Sakura went out on this journey knowing that she had to be the one to hunt them. She had a personal stake in all of this.

Curiously, though, Sakura had to wonder what the Uchiha and Senju clans had in all of this. Obviously there is magic in their bloods and Sakura knew that the previous leaders of the two infamous clans were closely linked with the Grand Fire Coven. She's not sure of the full story and while it might be an interesting one, honestly she didn't care enough to pry about it. If they thought it was important, they would have said. And from her own perspective, they've fought any possible urge they may have in asking her for her reasonings.

Sakura has always been a very private person. Her mother used to tell her that she needed to open up more, but it just simply wasn't who she was. She could laugh and joke like the boys, not caring about being proper and lady like, because she never really cared what people thought of her. If she did, she was in the wrong profession.

No one lasted long in this world always caring what others thought of them.

Sakura was starting to like these guys, though. She liked their quirky personalities, especially when together, and just the way the atmosphere changes when all of them are united. She's not sure about their past, other than at one point they warred with one another, but it obviously couldn't have been that bad since they appear to get along so well now. And she highly doubted that it was some sort of mutual hatred for witches, or even their desire to save innocence. It felt like more than that.

Sakura wouldn't pry, though. She wouldn't want people prying into her personal life so she wasn't going to do it to others. But she can't deny that she is definitely curious.

These men were very strange to her. They were shocked at first by her blunt and even vulgar attitude, but adjusted quickly and no longer bat an eyelash at her harsh words or sudden, inappropriate gestures. It's only been a month and half and they already seem very well adjusted to her way of living. Fast, constantly, and even a bit wildly.

They watch her close enough to make sure not to lose her in the crowd, but when she sudden starts stripping to get changed or bathe, they are very quick to spin away and offer her privacy. It has become the norm to them, but Sakura still finds it funny to tease them. She isn't afraid of them doing anything, especially when there is someone like Izuna, who's face turns beat red every time she does that. Hashirama is such a likable guy who scoffs indignant when someone's feelings are hurt she couldn't see him as a bad guy, and Tobirama is a very stoic and straightforward individual, his mind is set on hunting witches. It's one of the only things on his radar. And well, Madara... well, the one time he spoke about his mother, which was briefly and Sakura only caught the tail end of the conversation with Izuna, he spoke very passionately and loyally. A boy like that didn't strike Sakura as the type to try anything nefarious to women.

So, she felt secure in that regard. Not that she couldn't beat the ever loving hell out of them for trying anything, but, well, yeah.

"Sakura?" Izuna calls out to her, pulling Sakura from her thoughts.

"Yeah?" She pushes some of her long pink hair over her shoulder.

"Where to next?" He asks, moving to sit back next to Madara in the dirt.

"South," Sakura says easily. "Our next target is in that direction."

"How do you know this?" Madara asks.

Sakura smiles. "That's the reason I stick on highly populated trails when I'm learning about witch locations," she says easily. "Word of witches travels fast on the main roads."

"I get that," Hashirama admits, turning away from Madara to look at Sakura from over the fire, "but how do you know when stories about witches are real or if it's people just jumping at shadows?"

Sakura's eyebrows shoot toward her hairline. Such an insightful question she wasn't expecting from the goofy one of the group. Hashirama is by no means dumb, even though he gives off that aura well. He's actually quite intelligent, but he's perhaps so powerful in the magic in his blood and his ability with a blade that he's a bit thoughtless when it comes to the important things.

Ninja clans, like the Uchiha and Senju, have magic in their blood whether it be from a witch blessing their family, some kind of natural occurrence which is rare but not impossible, or it is something they have carefully cultivated over time. They can't cast spells the way that witches do, nor is their lifespans expanded like a fully realized witch's. But they are faster, stronger, smarter, more agile and with a higher vitality than a regular human. Sakura actually never took the time to study ninja but she knew that in some cases, like the Uchiha, they are capable of controlling the elements. Fire, in the Uchiha's case. Both Izuna and Madara. Water in Tobirama's case, counteracting his sword nicely, and wood in Hashirama's case.

These abilities exist but are difficult to use often for those who aren't witches. Their bodies simply aren't built to be conduits of magic like witches were. It doesn't make their ability to use it any less impressive. If Sakura could use elements, she's pretty sure she's abuse such a power.

But she's getting too off topic.

"How do I know?" Sakura asks slowly. "How do I know if a story I hear is of a real witch or just a story?" She shrugs her shoulders. "I don't, I suppose. I follow my gut. Has there been an increase in deaths in that region? Can anyone else collaborate that story? Does it sound viable? I think about all of these things and go from there."

All four men sit in silence, lost to their thoughts.

 _For the Reviewers:_

 _1\. Fudge-Cakesss: Oh my goodness! I'm so glad that you were excited that this story updated! It's funny that you shifted the possible embarrassment onto your friend, I just hope that I didn't get you into any trouble. I really like it too. I want all of the Sakuras that I make to be different. They shouldn't all be carbon copies of each other because all of their lives and circumstances are different and they must adapt to tem. Thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate them!_

 _2\. AngelsHeart0908: Thank you. I do too. I am really liking Sakura's character. Hm, I have been giving Izuna and Sakura as a pairing some thought. I haven't done one with them yet so it should be interesting. Thank you very much!_

 _3\. silverwolfighter00: Thank you!_

 _4\. Guest: I'm not a big fan of multiple lovers, but I'll give it a shot if that is what people want. Thanks!_

 _5\. Shine10: Oh my goodness, that is so sweet of you to say! You were in class too, when you started reading this? Naughty, naughty! You are the second reviewer to say that! ;) I am so happy that you are liking the story so far! I know it's not much but I do appreciate it! I am really liking this Sakura, no joke. I like to add a bit of humor to my stories, simply because I'd like to believe I'm funny at times and it's something I believe that all characters have a bit in them so a jab or joke here and there don't seem so bad to me. Okay, I'll take your pairing thoughts into consideration. Fufu maybe something like that can happen. Not now, though, but later. ;) I have also heard for Sakura and Izuna so I'll give it some thought. I am so sorry about the wait!_

 _6\. FlyingSilverDreams: Thank you!_

 _7\. thentherewasIA: Me too. I wish that all my stories could be web comics. I just can't draw to save my life. Everything on deviant art is so bad, I cringe when I see it. XD_

 _8\. Hana-Taisho: Yeah, I'm not very picky with pairings either. I'm sorry about he wait!_

 _9\. LeonaMasha: Thank you!_

 _10\. Chancellor S: Hm, okay. :D_

 _11\. ILoveSxS: Haha, same!_

 _12\. TCRLN-ARnC: Sorry about the wait!_

 _13\. lara'tjie: Thank you so much! I am sorry about the wait!_


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